


all my favorite songs make me think of you (i’m gonna lose it)

by petalswriting



Category: The Expansion Project
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, High School AU, Jealousy, Kinda, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Tache, POV Tache, Pining, Possessive Kiloh, Song fic, Tache-Centric, adding these as i go - Freeform, breakups and makeups, musical theatre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-04-07 16:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19088794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petalswriting/pseuds/petalswriting
Summary: WIP“when i first saw you, i made a mixtape; i didn’t know you did the same damn thing.”or:Tache and Kiloh’s whirlwind relationship’s highlights told through song lyrics/tidbits, and also high school au.





	all my favorite songs make me think of you (i’m gonna lose it)

_Fall is here, hear the yell; back to school, ring the bell_

 

A loud banging on his bedside stand breaks through Tache’s pleasant blank unconsciousness, jarring him abruptly from a dreamless sleep and into the widely blinking eyes of his sister. “You’re going to be late.” She informs him matter-of-factly, moving easily to the side as the older boy swings his legs over the side of the bed. “Which means I’m going to be late. On the first day. Which is really just bad manners.”

She continues to ramble as Tache eventually drags himself out of bed, puttering around the shared room. The boy heaves an exhausted sigh. “Alice, my dear, it is far too early for you to be going on like this.” This earns a rather uncouth snort from Alice as she gestures vaguely to the clock sitting on the nightstand. With a cursory glance in its direction, Tache notices that it reads **07:43** , in bright red text. Shit.

Instantly, he picks up his pace, throwing on a plain white button up, wrinkled now from lack of care, and some loose fitting jeans. He rushes to the bathroom to tie his long red hair into some semblance of order, soon settling on a loose braid to keep it out of the way. By the time he gets downstairs, backpack still partially open and right shoe only halfway on, Alice is already by the door. She looks unfairly put together by comparison in her flowing black skirt and light pink sweater, curly brown hair falling easily over her shoulders. “Ready?”

Tache huffs in response to her smug tone, pulling his shoe on completely before joining her and crowding her out of the house. “Come on, come on, let’s not be later than need be.” He checks his phone clock.  **07:52**.  _Shit_.

The two clamber into the car, Tache sending a silent thanks to whoever’s listening as the shitty engine finally turns over and he rips off the curb and onto the road. He makes a mental note to check with Demonte about the funds to get the old Chevrolet properly fixed up.. or scrapped and replaced. He isn’t picky.

Tache cranks the radio as Alice whoops loudly from the passenger seat. He may break a number of traffic laws on the ride, but that’s really just his business.

 

* * * 

 

Tache was unbuckling before the car was even parked, and Alice had almost completely exited the vehicle by the time Tache switched gears. The siblings raced through the almost empty parking lot as the first bell rang, pushing through the emptying hallways to get to their respective classrooms. Alice's sophomore Biology wasn’t far from Tache’s own junior English Lit, and she departed with a quick salute.

Tache manages to fall into his seat just as the final bell went off. He sags down into his chair, fairly close to the back wall, letting his worn bag slide off his shoulder. He distantly hears the teacher calling roll and feels grateful that this doesn't seem like the kind of school to do 'new student introductions' and the like. Perks of transferring the first day of fall semester, perhaps.

He's jolted out of his absent musings by a quietly hissed "Psst, hey. Hey!" from his right. Turning his head in the direction of the voice without shifting his position, Tache raises a brow at the stranger trying to get his attention. The boy looks.. odd. He's rather lanky with subtly multi-shaded skin and piercing pale blue eyes that are almost hidden behind his mop of wavy black hair. A pleasantly interesting appearance, Tache concludes after some consideration.

"Yes..?" Tache finally drawls.

The boy gives a lopsided smile in response. "Hey," he says again, "you're new here right? I'm Lux, Lux Romero, kinda the unofficial one-man welcoming committee of Morterre High. I can totally give you a tour, show you to your classes; I'm the Janis Ian to your Cady Heron, anything you need, I'm your guy." The kid, Lux, announces in a rush, voice still held in the low tenor of a whisper.

Tache takes a moment to absorb  _that_ information overload, before eventually stating, "I don't know who those people are." At the shocked expression on Lux's face, Tache plunges on. "And also, I'm quite fine on my own, thanks." With that, he turns his focus back to the lecture that had picked up. At least he wasn't going to miss a rather boring analysis of  _Death of a Salesman_   which was a bit below him anyway.

Yet, he didn't have the chance to become preemptively bored, as Lux was leaning further into his space and "psst"-ing again. With a put-upon sigh, Tache turns his sharp gaze on the boy again. "Yes?" He demands, tone bordering on impatient this time. Really, he had teachers to ignore, couldn't this weird induction wait?

The sunny grin on the other boy's face had dampened somewhat, but he spoke with the same level of energy. "Look, Ansel, right?"

"Tache," he corrects automatically, deciding it wasn't worth the energy to find out how this guy even knew his name.

Lux looks more confused now. "Oh, Tache, that's, uh- that's.. unique?" He tries, seemingly off-kilter by the jarringly sharp response.

Tache rolls his eyes and huffs in offense, "Lux isn't exactly run-of-the-mill." He retorts.

"Touche," comes the light response before Lux is back on task. "Anyway, look, Tache: you're new here, no friends to fall back on, no knowledge of the social hierarchy or whatever, you could use some insider touch." The little speech sounded practiced, in private but never used before. It was almost amusing.

Still, the kid had a point, but Tache loves to look a gift horse in the mouth; it's basically his specialty. "Right, and what's in it for you? What do you get out of showing some new kid around?" 

Lux deflates somewhat, moving closer to his own desk once more. "Okay, fine, you caught me." He responds with a slight huff. "I could use a friend myself, and as an unbiased outsider you're pretty much the prime candidate." He admits, shocking Tache with his candor. 

Tache can begrudgingly relate, as he wasn't the most popular at any of his old schools, and reputations tended to stick. He decided against asking exactly  _why_   there existed a bias against Lux in the first place. For now, at least.

With a more serious pause than was strictly necessary given the situation, Tache finally conceded. "Fine, I'll hang out with you," He announces, "On a  _trial basis_." He adds pointedly.

This brightens Lux's demeanor immediately. "Great! Yeah, yeah I'll take trial basis, I can do that." He smiled to himself as he settled fully back into his seat, looking awfully pleased.

It was with a sinking feeling that Tache realized this kid might just grow on him. Damn it.

 

* * *

 

Lux follows Tache through the halls for the rest of the day, his constant droning chatter lending some constancy to the hectic first day Tache had been expecting. Still, Tache feels somewhat relieved when he makes it to his last class of the day, maths or something, and Lux separates from Tache at the last minute with an enthusiastic wave. Tache lets out a low groan of relief as he sinks into an empty chair, slowly beginning to maybe understand why Lux hasn't found a steady friend in this eternally small town. However, his relaxation seems to be an open invitation for the boy sitting next to him to swoop in with a rather unwelcome greeting.

"Hey," the stranger greets with, what he no doubt thinks is, an award winning smile, "Tired of that Romero kid already?" His lips quirk at his own joke as Tache allows himself to look over at the guy. He was tall, Tache could tell even as he sat, and his blond hair was artfully mussed so as to not draw attention away from his striking hazel eyes and surprisingly neat stubble. The boy was handsome, sure, but Tache couldn't look past his rude quip, remembering Lux's offhand comments about some of the 'less nice kids' that he had happened about in his ramblings.

"Actually," He counters, a protective feeling usually reserved for Alice surging through him, "Lux is quite a lovely companion, thanks. He's fun, and bubbly, and friendly; probably far better company than the likes of you..." He adds for extra sting, letting the end trail off in question, an open offer for the guy's name. At least then Tache can be sure he knows who to stay away from.

The boy seems slightly shocked by the venom in Tache's tone, and it's only after a slight hesitation that he offers, "Er, Kiloh?" 

"Kiloh." Tache lets the name drop from his lips like an insult as he turns his attention to the teacher who just began speaking. 

He vaguely notes that Kiloh stared a moment longer before he, too, payed the teacher his attention. He seemed uncomfortable.

Good.

**Author's Note:**

> this whole thing is a human/high school au based on an old old old rp group i had with a bunch of my friends. no significant named characters are mine except for Tache, Demonte, Anichka, and Laurent (excluding all of Tache’s family outside of Alice). this is really just because i miss this project and the most prominent ships from it so im reviving it somewhat cause im a sap. so, enjoy!


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